Abstract

We present the detailed behavior of the axial force acting on a
dielectric sphere exerted by the optical pressure of a focused Gaussian
laser beam. Comparison is made between the numerical results and
those calculated from the radiation pressure cross section. There
is also a discussion as to whether the expressions for the axial force
given in this paper are consistent with the previously reported
experimental results. Moreover, a simple experimental method to
measure the axial force on a polystyrene sphere suspended in water is
demonstrated, and fairly good agreement between theoretical and
experimental results was obtained.

References

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a The a and
w0 are in micrometers and those of
F1 and F2 are in
piconewtons. For the left (right) part of the table,
w0 = 2 μm (a = 6
μm). Common parameters are n1 = 1.33,
n2 = 1.6, λ0 = 0.488 μm, and
P0 = 100 mW.